Bootstrap vs Tailwind CSS | Which One Do You Need?
CSS frameworks have been popular in web development for over 10 years and new ones keep coming into the sector. Of course, it’s an acceptable question if there is “the best” of them. In this article, we will look into the most popular CSS frameworks, Bootstrap and Tailwind CSS.
Why CSS Frameworks Needed?
CSS is used by 96.2 percent of all websites online. However, coding CSS on a new website or application from scratch can feel like you are reinventing the wheel. Programmers should make life easier, so, it mustn’t be through doing the same things every day, right?
If you prefer to use vanilla CSS in every single project, it means a lot of time will be spent rewriting the same things with CSS. So, people had this problem and chose to make some easy ways. Here we are starting to use CSS frameworks. With CSS frameworks, we can code our designs so much faster. And time is equal to money here. If you can create the same design in ~70% less time with acceptable performance, isn’t it worth it?
What is Bootstrap?
Bootstrap is one of the longest-running CSS frameworks still in use. It was created in 2011 by Twitter. Most of us use Bootstrap because it provides CSS-based templates and classes for common components. So, you can just copy and paste all the usual components with Bootstrap and use them with all responsiveness and mobile-first design.
For example, we almost can’t imagine a website without a navbar right? With Bootstrap, we don’t need to write it from scratch. We can just choose from templates and use them. If you want, you can customize it as you wish.
What is Tailwind CSS?
Tailwind CSS on the other hand was created in 2017 by Adam Wathan and Steve Schoger. They describe Tailwind CSS as a “utility-first CSS framework packed with classes to build any design”. Unlike Bootstrap, Tailwind CSS doesn’t offer any pre-build components to use with one click. They just provide useful tools and CSS classes to build our designs as fast as possible.
Also, there is an extra plus of Tailwind CSS is, it watches what you wrote and deletes everything that you didn’t use. So, unlike Bootstrap, your project won’t have any unused CSS classes and less performance because of this. There is no minus using Tailwind CSS with this.
Lastly, the Tailwind team also created prebuilt components and pages that you can use. Most of them are paid but they provide fully customizable ready-to-use components at affordable prices. Click here to check Tailwind UI.
Similarities Between Tailwind CSS and Bootstrap
If we compare Bootstrap and Tailwind CSS, we must know their similarities. Both of these frameworks help you with writing tons of CSS. So, since you don’t need to write too much CSS from scratch, you can focus more on building out your UI and its functionality.
But sometimes, it may be difficult to write all these prebuild CSS classes in your HTML. Because too many classes in the HTML may look a bit busy-looking markup. Anyways, it’s hard to argue against the fact that these frameworks both simplify and speed up the process of building your UI.
Which Companies Use Bootstrap?
A bootstrap is an open-source tool with 160K GitHub stars and 77.4K GitHub forks. With this popularity, there are so many popular companies and websites created with Bootstrap.
Mastercard, Spotify, LinkedIn, Twitter, Lyft, Snapchat, Udemy, Upwork, Duolingo, Postman, Indeed, Bloomberg, and more prefer Bootstrap on their websites.
Which Companies Use Tailwind CSS?
Tailwind is also an open-source tool with 61.5K GitHub stars and 3.1K GitHub forks. Of course, it’s less popular than Bootstrap, but there are more and more companies and websites using Tailwind CSS.
Solid by Buzzfeed, Shed by TED, Stripe, Medium, Meetup, Kickstarter, Twitch, Heroku, Starbucks, Pizza Hut, NBA website, Eurovision, Clubhouse, GitHub CoPilot, React Beta Documentation, Netflix’s Top 10 site, and more prefer Tailwind CSS on their websites and projects.
Which One is Better?
Okay, let’s go for the real question, the one you came to this post for. Is Bootstrap of Tailwind CSS better than the other one? In my opinion, both are valid choices for projects. So, there is no “better framework”. Also, outside of both, there is not “the best CSS framework” at all.
If you like the freedom to make completely custom components and designs from scratch, but you don’t want to write Vanilla CSS and worry about small details, then Tailwind is the best option for you.
On the other hand, if designing isn’t your strong suit and you’d prefer to not think about it, Bootstrap is a better choice with pre-build UI components and more.
What About Vanilla CSS in 2023?
There is of course an option I should mention, and that is not using a CSS framework at all. Just because CSS frameworks are popular these days, doesn’t mean that you have to use one of them. CSS on its own is still a valid choice.
Of course, depending on the project, you must prefer using which framework you can use, or even not to use any of them. Vanilla CSS is still a powerful tool and you won’t have any worries about performance if you need to take care of milliseconds of your project.
Final Thoughts
You might have guessed the conclusion for this post already, but which CSS framework you use, all depends on you, your experience, and your project. If you are not a designer and just want to put things together as fast as possible, then Bootstrap might be your choice. But if you want complete freedom with custom designs, then Tailwind CSS might be a better option for you.
Personally, I am more in the Tailwind CSS camp. I am definitely not an award-winning designer and probably I never will be. But, because of the logic of Tailwind CSS, I don’t need to think about browser compatibility or anything else. I can just focus on designing what is on my head with full freedom and that’s what I feel comfortable with.
So, what about you, what camp do you fall into? Do you use CSS frameworks or do you prefer the vanilla version? If using one of them, which one is your favorite? Let me know in the comments! Also, if you think the content is useful, you can support me through tips below 😇.
